In article ,
Scott Lowther wrote:


Ool wrote:


SPSs, if they ever become possible and economical one day, aren't so
much about ensuring America's continued supply of cheap energy.
They're about enabling the rest of the world to live in the same kind
of abundance, energy-wise, as so far only the industrialized world
could.


Errrr.... how would, say, Nepal, Chad or Paraguay build SPS systems?

A lot of nations with no native aerospace industry seem to have
aircraft. My guess is that they are buying them from companies in nations
with aerospace industries.

There's even an indirect security benefit to the US to encouraging
the spread of beamed power (even only relayed from somewhere else on Earth):
less need for local power sources, like coal or nuclear. If you're worried
about the little nations getting the Bomb, fewer reactors is probably
better.

Putting coal burning plants in first world nations means that
the environmental regs they satisfy will probably be of a higher grade
than what underdeveloped nations could afford (Or it could go the other
way: put hellishly unclear coal plants in Kreblekistan, and beam via
relay to the markets that can afford the power).
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